Key thing, he solved his biggest problem, passivity under pressure.
How many guys struggle with their issues year in and never adjust?

How long did it take Murray to get some cahones? Milos was a beast
and I can assure you the top 10 are quivvering in their Nikes.

He didn't rely on passive rallies waiting for the other guy to make a mistake,
and I hope he keeps that going. Whether he could do that consistantly
through 5 sets for two weeks is another story. I hope so. If he can,
then i can certainly contend.

Bear in mind that Del Potro won a Slam without ever winning a Masters title so it's not impossible that Raonic could do the same but I agree he needs to have a strong showing in the lead up events. He has an excellent chance to take his first 500 title in Tokyo tomorrow which will be a good start for him.

None of his other titles were 500s? San Jose I think is a 250, but ... ?

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"Before and after the match you are the same, no?" - RN
"Pain is only temporary. Victory is forever." - RF

You know what the problem is that I have with Raonic? I think he has a solid game and all, with the strong serve and steady baseline game. His serve will win him his service games. And his blunt and somewhat sluggish game is offensive enough to get a break in most sets and otherwise he can just play a tiebreak, which he also does well in because of his serve.

But I just don't see much room for improvement. I feel like.. this is it, you know? This is all we're going to see from him. He isn't going to suddenly change his technique and play like Federer or Djokovic, he will keep his clumsy technique and good serve. What is he going to improve? Serve harder? His movement might be improvable, but he will always keep moving uncomfortably because of his length. Same with Isner and Karlovic.

Nevertheless, he might get some Grand Slams here and there. If he keeps serving great throughout the tournament he might win it. And after the top 4 retires, he has time to win something big.

You know what the problem is that I have with Raonic? I think he has a solid game and all, with the strong serve and steady baseline game. His serve will win him his service games. And his blunt and somewhat sluggish game is offensive enough to get a break in most sets and otherwise he can just play a tiebreak, which he also does well in because of his serve.

But I just don't see much room for improvement. I feel like.. this is it, you know? This is all we're going to see from him. He isn't going to suddenly change his technique and play like Federer or Djokovic, he will keep his clumsy technique and good serve. What is he going to improve? Serve harder? His movement might be improvable, but he will always keep moving uncomfortably because of his length. Same with Isner and Karlovic.

Nevertheless, he might get some Grand Slams here and there. If he keeps serving great throughout the tournament he might win it. And after the top 4 retires, he has time to win something big.

Let's see him make the Quarters of a Slam first. I would actually like to see him do well, looks like a real nice guy and even though I'm usually not into watching big serving games, I really don't mind watching Milos.

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"It was like watching Dolgopolov, except that it all made sense"- Mikhail Youzhny on Evgeny Donskoy

But I just don't see much room for improvement. I feel like.. this is it, you know? This is all we're going to see from him. He isn't going to suddenly change his technique and play like Federer or Djokovic, he will keep his clumsy technique and good serve. What is he going to improve? Serve harder? His movement might be improvable, but he will always keep moving uncomfortably because of his length. Same with Isner and Karlovic.

He always gets lumped in with Karlovic and Isner in discussions about awkward movement, but he's really only in that group because of the quality of his serve. Physically, it's more appropriate to group him with players like Del Potro and Berdych. Unlikely Raonic's ground game will ever improve to the level of Berdych, mush less Del Potro, but it doesn't necessarily have to. Raonic has a bigger serve than either of them, and a willingness to go to the net.

In terms of areas for improvement, he could use a marginal bump in movement and endurance (those will come if he puts continues to put in the work like it seems he is doing already) but after that it's all between the ears. The top players always say that at a certain point in the rankings after which they all have significant abilities, it's a mental game more than anything else, especially on the key points. Raonic demonstrates many positive mental qualities already. Far beyond the other players in his generation, which is why he's already compiling a good record and the others mostly are not.

Who is to say whether Raonic can continue developing the mental side? If he can, he'll come across some big opportunities in his career. If he doesn't then you are probably correct his big results will be more spotty.

By the time he was the same age as Raonic is now ie. 21 years and 9 months, Murray had already won 10 titles including 2 Masters and a 500 and had just appeared in his first Slam final, beating the world #1 Nadal to get there!

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"I have to apologise because I clearly pushed Roger so hard on Thursday!" (Andy Murray on why Federer couldn't play the WTF final).

But I just don't see much room for improvement. I feel like.. this is it, you know? This is all we're going to see from him. He isn't going to suddenly change his technique and play like Federer or Djokovic, he will keep his clumsy technique and good serve. What is he going to improve? Serve harder? His movement might be improvable, but he will always keep moving uncomfortably because of his length. Same with Isner and Karlovic.

Nevertheless, he might get some Grand Slams here and there. If he keeps serving great throughout the tournament he might win it. And after the top 4 retires, he has time to win something big.

I think you may be incorrect here. If you saw the match between Raonic and Murray in Tokyo you would have seen that Milos has improved in key areas such as his backhand, net play and ROS. He also was able to hang in there under pressure and not fold mentally as he has in the past in big match moments. He is much better than Isner and Karlovic imo.

I think he may have the goods to go all the way, we will have to see. Watch, now he will probably lose to Nishikori in the final.

I didn't mean steady in that he doesn't make many mistakes. But he does have a solid baseline game plan. He doesn't go into long Ferrer-like rallies, but plays a high-risk game and apparently it's good enough to get some breaks in here and there. Which is all that he needs to win the match if he wins all of his serve games.

You know what the problem is that I have with Raonic? I think he has a solid game and all, with the strong serve and steady baseline game. His serve will win him his service games. And his blunt and somewhat sluggish game is offensive enough to get a break in most sets and otherwise he can just play a tiebreak, which he also does well in because of his serve.

But I just don't see much room for improvement. I feel like.. this is it, you know? This is all we're going to see from him. He isn't going to suddenly change his technique and play like Federer or Djokovic, he will keep his clumsy technique and good serve. What is he going to improve? Serve harder? His movement might be improvable, but he will always keep moving uncomfortably because of his length. Same with Isner and Karlovic.

Nevertheless, he might get some Grand Slams here and there. If he keeps serving great throughout the tournament he might win it. And after the top 4 retires, he has time to win something big.

Watch a tape of the Tipsarevic match. Milos could improve by not dumping forehands into the middle of the net on putaway shots.